Testing Glen_e's method on my 2008 Jeep Wrangler prior to getting going on Kate. Glen was kind enough to send me the link to all of his instructional information, and I dropped about $330 on supplies. I thought I would get familiar with the tools and techniques prior to calling Glen and having a discussion, since I didn't want to sound like a noob. First victim: My daughter's daily driver, a 2008 Jeep Wrangler with 70k miles that has been neglected for a while, and has seen some abuse crashing through brush, as well as getting parked outside all the time. Since she's got one windshield wiper she nicknamed "Cthulhu" due to the wicked looking rubber tail it drags across the windshield (fixing that today, btw) I figured I couldn't go wrong with a polish and seal, even if I made a few mistakes.
From AutoGeek I bought the Meguiars G110V2 dual action polisher, and watched the video Mike Phillips sent with it. Also got the Blackfire Total Polish and Seal and Blackfire Crystal Seal. Got the Nanoskin Autoscrub synthetic clay bar and Guzzler waffle weave drying towels and went to the local hand car wash. Soaped the Jeep up and used the clay bar to get off all of the contaminants. Dried it off with the Guzzler. Both great so far. From microfibertech.com I ordered a 10 pack of the 530 gsm MF towels and some cleaning solution for the washing machine.
After watching the video about using the polisher, I figured I was ready to try it out. There are many warnings on the video about making sure you don't turn on the polisher without the foam pad down on the car so you don't sling product all over the garage. "Who could be that stupid?" I thought. I primed up the foam polishing pad with polishing compound (used Turtle Wax, because that's what I had in the garage), put the pad on the Jeep and turned it on. Nothing. Oh yeah, forgot to plug it in. Yes, you can see it coming. Set down the polisher and plugged it in to the extension cord. Of course, it was still turned on, upside down on the garage floor, and it soon slung polishing compound all over the garage, the Jeep and Kate (my 2015 AW Z-51). Crap!! OK, I got this.
I taped down the middle of the hood so I could get a good before and after shot for you guys, and show my daughter what it looks like to keep your car in good shape. Then I did the compound with the polishing pad, Blackfire polish with the finest pad, and Crystal Seal on half of the hood.
What a huge difference!! This technique really makes even an old machine look like new. The compound removed most of the swirls, tree branch scratches, and auto car wash brush marks. You can see an even bigger difference in this photo.
Being the jealous girl that she is, and being photogenic, Kate managed to get her rear end into this photo.
After I did the other half of the Jeep hood, I noticed that there were still more swirl marks that I hadn't noticed before, so I backed all the way up to the beginning, got out the cutting foam pad (the most aggressive one I had ordered) and tried to get the swirl marks out. Huge success. Looked so nice, I went ahead and did the whole thing with this pad, then moved to the polishing pad with more compound, then went to the fine pad with the BlackFire polish, then the Crystal Seal. I won't have to do all of these steps on the Corvette of course, but I feel now that I've got enough "stick time" behind the polisher that I can have an intelligent conversation with Glen. Thanks so much, Glen! More to come as I keep honing my skills on my wife's 2010 Camaro RS (Victory Red with the Silver Stripes) and the 2012 Buick Enclave (banished to the driveway to make room in the garage for Kate and the Camaro).